


University is Difficult

by gaylordprime (livistotallyawesome)



Category: Deadpool - All Media Types, Marvel, Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Fluff and Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-04
Updated: 2016-04-10
Packaged: 2018-05-31 06:38:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6459787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/livistotallyawesome/pseuds/gaylordprime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peter is nearing the end of his first term at university when he realises that he's misplaced a very important item: his beloved red fountain pen. Unfortunately, the person who found it just happens to be Peter's least favourite 'Big Name On Campus', Wade Wilson. It leaves him asking himself one question: Would he rather leave his pen in the clutches of this notorious rich playboy, or suffer the consequences of actually talking to him?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Pen

**Author's Note:**

> Holy shit I can’t believe I’m writing SpideyPool fic, what fucking year even is it? Oh shit and it’s a college AU? Jesus, I’m such a wanker. I hope you feel as ashamed of yourself for reading this as I do for writing it.

It began with a pen.   
  
    Not just any old pen, of course. This was Peter’s favourite pen - a beautiful metallic red fountain pen that had been his father’s once upon a time. In retrospect he probably shouldn’t have taken it out of his dorm room in the first place, but as was the case with most university students towards the end of term; he wasn’t thinking straight at the time.   
  
    After he’d patted down his pockets several times and done a few sweeps of his room, he determined that it was lost. He’d probably left it in the lab after his practical exam knowing him, so he planned to visit the lab assistant to see if he’d picked it up or something.   
  
    He hadn’t.   
  
    It ended up being completely by chance that he found his beloved pen and if it had been in the hands of anyone else he would’ve likened the whole ordeal to a bit of rare serendipity and perhaps asked the lucky boy or girl out for coffee. Unfortunately, the person who had his pen in their grimy hand was none other than Wade Wilson.   
  
    Peter had never met Wade, but boy had he heard him. That human slime ball was the campus bike and Peter had heard many a girl and guy have a nice night with him - sometimes even right next door. Wade had an ability in bed that was, apparently, like no other if the screaming was anything to judge by.   
  
    No, Peter was not impressed by Wade’s decorum. He was at university to learn, to get his PhD and get a great job doing something he cared about. Wade seemed to be here just for the sex and the parties, and Peter couldn’t forgive people like that. He’d worked his ass off to get here, gotten scholarships on top of scholarships to fund his time, and he was sick and tired of all these trust fund babies disrupting his work and having fun all the time!   
  
    Yes, he was aware that he sounded like a grouchy old man.   
  
    But Wade was sat in one of the many coffee shops on campus, taking up two tables with his (brand new) text books and (even newer-looking) laptop. Was that a macbook too? So pretentious.  
  
    “Excuse me, but that’s my pen,” he said, clearing his throat and gesturing to Wade’s hand.   
  
    “What?” Wade asked, looking up in confusion before his face melted into a suave smirk. “Oh hello there beautiful. What can you do for me today?”   
  
    He even had the audacity to wink. Asshole.   
  
    “That pen in your hand,” Peter said. “It’s mine.”   
  
    “Hold your horses there, sugar,” Wade said. “What makes you so sure?”   
  
    “It has initials at the bottom. R.P. Look for yourself.”   
  
    Wade did so and Peter noted his eyebrow shoot up a little. He’d be lying if he said the man wasn’t attractive. Peter had never seen him up close before but he looked like a young Ryan Reynolds in that generic handsome way. It was no wonder he got laid as much as he did.   
  
    “So it does,” he said, looking back to Peter. “So what’s that stand for?”   
  
    “Richard Parker. Now give it back, that’s my pen,” he repeated, holding out his hand to take it. Wade pulled it out of his reach.   
  
    “Oh not so fast, Richie,” he said. “I think you owe me something for this. A finder’s fee, y’know?”   
  
    Peter glared at the man. Ugh, this was infuriating. He had an inorganic chemistry test to be studying for and Wade was getting on his last nerve.   
  
    “Really? And what might that be?” he asked through clenched teeth.   
  
    “Get dinner with me tonight,” Wade said, leaning over the table and wiggling his eyebrows. “I promise it will be well worth your time.”   
  
    “I think I’d rather climb a tree buck naked and then slide all the way down to the ground, but thanks for the offer,” Peter said, hand still outstretched.   
  
    Wade seemed to take that as an invitation as he took Peter’s hand in his and shook it, laughing.   
  
    “Ooh, you’re sassy. I like that,” he said. “It’s nice to meet you Dickie bird; the name’s Wade Wilson.”   
  
    “Great. Lovely. So good to meet you. Give me my goddamn pen,” Peter said.   
  
    “Alright, alright, touchy,” Wade said, finally handing the pen over. “I’ll be seeing you around Richie. Mark my words, you’ll be falling for me by this time next year.”   
  
    “I sincerely doubt it. Goodbye,” Peter said.   
  
    He left the coffee shop without another word and headed to the library where he was late for the slot he’d booked to have a private study suite. Thankfully he was there so often that the librarian gave him the benefit of the doubt and let him in anyway. Peter settled down in the booth and got out his beautiful pen only to realise that the lid was missing.   
  
    “That fucking son of a bitch.”   
  


***

  
  
        Two days later, a note was slipped under Peter’s door. Well, his and his roommate’s door, but he hadn’t seen Miles for a few days now. No doubt he was sleeping in the library while studying for his finals. Either way, Peter picked up the note and looked at the chicken scratch with unbridled disdain.   
  
  


‘hey sugarlips,   
i got your pen lid.   
guess you better CUM…   
to room 202 in Fairview Terrace to get it  
see you soon  
xoxogossipwade’

  
  
    This man was a menace. Not only was he a pen thief but he was actually holding parts of Peter’s pen hostage just to flirt with him like some obnoxious prick who thinks the world owes him everything. Peter wasn’t about to give into the charm, or lack thereof, of someone like Wade Wilson. Absolutely not.   
  
    Unfortunately, he couldn’t think of any other way to get his lid back other than to go to room 202 in Fairview Terrace that evening and knock angrily at the door. It didn’t take long for said door to open, revealing a tall, thin guy with glasses and a neckbeard. He didn’t smell good either, and his hair was greasy. There was orange dust around his mouth and on his cheek which suggested he’d been partway through a bag of  Cheetos.   
  
    “You here for Wade?” the man asked.   
  
    “Yeah, he has my pen lid,” Peter said.   
  
    “Oh, so you’re the pen guy? That’s just great. Another thing I absolutely did not need in my life. I swear to God, having Wade as a roommate has been hell. I can’t wait for Christmas to come so I can just leave and lie down in my mom’s basement for a month,” he said, leaving the door open as he wandered into the dark room. “Stay there, I’ll be right back.”   
  
    Peter did, indeed, stay there because the room was weirdly dark considering the sun was still up, and if the smell of Wade’s roommate was anything to go by, he could only imagine what the room itself must smell like. The man returned with another note and handed it to him.   
  
    “Honestly, if I were you I’d just give in and go on a date with him,” he said. “He’s such a twat he’s never gonna leave you alone unless you do something. Anyway, have fun with this weird…scavenger hunt or whatever the fuck this is. I’m out.”   
  
    The door was shut in Peter’s face before he could offer any response to such a ludicrous idea. Go on a date with Wade? Willingly? No thanks. He shook his head and read the note:   
  


‘that’s right richie! it’s riddling time!  
if you want to find your pen lid  
and you want to find it now  
then there’s another clue hid  
where you ought to take a bow  
good luck baby! ;)’

  
  
    Peter was absolutely going to kill this man. He kept thinking of imaginative ways to do so as he headed to the drama studios.   
  


***

  
    Three hours, eight clues and a million fucks given later, Peter was tired and pissed off. He’d solved all of Wade’s ridiculous riddles and was now stood on the upper balcony of the coffee shop he’d met Wade in before. It was cold as balls now that the sun had gone down, and Peter hadn’t had the sense of mind to bring a coat with him on this stupid witch hunt. He stood up there, shivering and looking for another clue, even though the last one had explicitly said that he would find the pen lid here.   
  
    “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck,” he chanted, looking under tables and chairs to see if it had been stuck there with gum or something. Honestly, if Wade thought this was romantic, he had another thing coming.   
  
    “Hey Richie,” a voice said, undeniably Wade’s, right in his ear.   
  
    Peter yelped in surprise and hit his head on the corner of the table.   
  
    “Ooh, ouch baby boy, I didn’t mean to make you jump that bad,” Wade said, laughing as he helped Peter stand up.   
  
    When Peter was vertical and his head stopped throbbing, he looked up to see that one of the tables was now covered in rose petals with two lit candles in the centre. Between them lay his pen lid.   
  
    Wade was also dressed smartly for once, out of his usual pair of grey sweatpants at college hoodie, and instead in a pair of nice jeans and a plaid shirt.   
  
    “Now, my mama always taught me to treat ladies with respect,” Wade said, smiling at him. “And I’m planning on doing the same for you.”   
  
    “How gracious,” Peter said, voice dripping with sarcasm. “I feel so respected after traipsing around campus all evening when I could’ve been studying.”   
  
    “Yeah, I’ll admit my timing wasn’t great,” Wade said. “But my point is that this is going to be it. Okay? This is my grand gesture. I don’t know what Weasel may have said to you, but if you still say no after tonight, I promise I’ll stop pursuing you.   
  
    “It’s just…I don’t know Richie, there’s something about you. You’re cute and you’re sassy, smart too if the amount you study tells me anything. I wanna get to know you more,” Wade said.   
  
    Peter could not understand anyone wanting to go to all this effort just to ask him on a date. He was not anything special. He wasn’t rich, he wasn’t very good-looking and, yes, he was smart but to the extent where he completely alienated himself from his friends and family just to get work done. Peter wouldn’t really say he was boyfriend material.   
  
    Wade looked at him with his pretty brown eyes and a smile that was just the right side of charming for once and Peter sighed.   
  
    “One date,” he said.   
  
    “You mean it?” Wade asked, hopping from one foot to the other.   
  
    “Yes. But just one date, that’s it. And it has to be after finals,” Peter said.   
  
    “You got it, Richie, I’ll plan such an amazing night, you won’t believe your pretty eyes,” Wade said, getting out his phone and texting someone.   
  
    “Just one thing before you run off celebrating by doing a naked lap around the lake…”   
  
    “Now that’s not a bad idea, Richie! I-“   
  
    “Stop right there. No. Anyway, my name isn’t Richard,” he said. “It’s Peter.”   
  
    “What? But you said the initials stood for Richard Parker right?” Wade asked.   
  
    “I did. That was my dad’s name. It’s his pen,” Peter explained.   
  
    “Oh…so I stole your dead dad pen, huh?”   
  
    “You sure did.”   
  
    “My bad.”  
  
    “You weren’t to know,” Peter said, shrugging. “And you’ve given the lid back now, so whatever, you’re forgiven.”   
  
    “I’m going to make this date even better now, just you wait,” Wade insisted. “It’s going to blow your socks off. Hopefully more.”   
  
    Peter glared at him which just made Wade grin in this annoyingly adorable way that made Peter want to laugh but also punch him in the face.   
  
    “In your dreams,” he said, heading to the table and taking the pen lid, securing it onto his pen and letting out a sigh of relief. Finally, things were back to normal. Sort of.   
  
    “Okay then Petey, give me your number so I don’t have to stalk you back to your room and leave you a note again,” he said.   
  
    “That’s really creepy. You know that, right?” Peter asked, getting out his phone anyway to bring up his number. He didn’t know it himself - that crap was difficult to remember when he had a lot more important stuff he needed to remember.   
  
    “Yeah, but I was trying to be romantic and cool,” Wade said.   
  
    “Whatever, here’s my number.”   
  
    Peter held the screen out in front of Wade’s face and let him copy down the numbers. He scowled when he saw that Wade saved him as ‘Petey-Pie’ with a heart emoji next to it, but he couldn’t say he wasn’t flattered.   
  
    “I’m going to go study now,” Peter said, running a hand through his hair.   
  
    “Uh, yeah, I’m gonna come with you,” Wade said, taking Peter by the elbow and looking panicked. “Come on, this way!”   
  
    Wade pulled him around the corner of the balcony into a little blind spot just as the beam of a torch shone across the place.   
  
    “Campus security,” Wade explained in a whisper. “We may or may not be here illegally.”   
  
    “What,” Peter hissed. “We could get kicked out!”   
  
    “Yeah, or arrested,” Wade snorted.   
  
    “Or kicked. Out!” Peter insisted, elbowing Wade in the gut.   
  
    “Ow, ow! Okay! Shh! Wait a second!” Wade said, flapping his hands against Peter’s shoulders.   
  
    The torch passed over the rose table and paused. It was followed by some mumbling conversation from the campus security inside.   
  
    “Now, now, now!” Wade said, pushing Peter around the corner again and towards the stairs.   
  
    “Hey!” a voice shouted.   
  
    Peter just ran, reacting to the fear by running as fast as he could towards the lake, unsure where else to go. If he went back to his dorm, they would no doubt catch him and he could get expelled! Peter wouldn’t be able to live with himself if that happened.   
  
    “This way,” Wade said, grabbing Peter by the arm again and pulling him into a little loading bay by the campus bookstore.   
  
    It was shrouded in shadow and the perfect hiding spot. The security guys ran right past them and off into the distance. When the coat was clear, Peter smacked Wade in the chest.   
  
    “Why didn’t you tell me that you’d broken in?” he growled. “That could’ve been my ticket out of here! I’m here purely on scholarships so I wouldn’t have mummy or daddy bailing me out!”   
  
    “Chill! I’m sorry! I thought it’d be all romantic and stuff if I-“   
  
    “Broke the law? And the campus rules all at once? You’re something else Wade Wilson, I swear to God,” he said, running a hand through his hair and - what…laughing? Oh, yeah he was laughing. “You’re a piece of work.”   
  
    “I try,” Wade said, leaning against the wall and flexing a little, very happy, it would seem, to have made Peter laugh. “It’s nice to see you with a smile on your face for once. You’ve got a real pretty smile.”   
  
    “Shut up,” Peter said, hitting him in the chest again but a little softer. “I’ll see you after finals okay?”   
  
    “At least let me walk you to your dorm,” Wade said, smiling down at him. But not, like, down at him, just literally because Wade must’ve been at least six-two if not taller.   
  
    “I’m a grown man, I think I’ll be alright,” Peter insisted. “Thanks though. See you soon.”   
  
    With that Peter waved and headed in the direction of his dorm, his cold hands stuffed in his pockets and a little smile on his face. When he got inside, Miles was immediately at his heels, going on about how worried he’d been since he’d seen Peter’s coat but not Peter and how it must be below freezing outside! Peter brushed him off and went to get changed for bed.   
  
    He fell asleep thinking about his inorganic chemistry final, but he had a dream that involved a red pen and a heart-warming smile.


	2. The Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well hey! You guys actually liked it, that's really nice. Hopefully you'll like this chapter too, and the one after it whenever the fuck I write it. Enjoy, you filthy heathens :)

Finals were hard. They were actually really fucking tough, and Peter was just glad he’d done so well in his practicals and coursework so he knew he’d still be safe and hopefully keep on the ninety percent-and-above streak he was on. When they were finally over, he and Miles went into the city for a celebratory meal together.   
  
    “I swear to God that final question in the math exam? Impossible!” Miles said through a mouth of noodles.   
  
    Peter gave him a chastising look and the kid swallowed and grinned sheepishly. Miles Morales was a really smart kid. He was a year younger than Peter at seventeen since he’d skipped fourth grade and he was very passionate about computer programming. Peter had found a bit of a kindred soul in Miles when he’d learned about their poor upbringings and the losses they’d both had. Plus, they both loved video games and had pooled their money together to buy a TV so they could bring their consoles back from home over Christmas and play in the new semester.   
  
    “Yeah, went right over my head,” Peter admitted. “But you can’t get ‘em all, right?”   
  
    “One day I’m going to get one hundred in one of his tests. He probably jerks off every night thinking of all the kids he’s making suffer,” Miles grumbled.   
  
    “Oh - Oh come on, dude, that’s so nasty. I’m _eating_ ,” Peter said, grimacing and holding his caramel chicken away from his mouth.   
  
    “He won’t know what hit him,” Miles continued, ignoring Peter. “Little Miles Morales: no one would expect _him_ to get a one hundred on Dr. Kuperschmidt’s dreaded math test. But I will and he’ll be _so_ impressed that he’ll probably ask me to do my PhD with him right away.”   
  
    “I thought you wanted to do your PhD in…computer stuff or whatever,” Peter said.   
  
    “Shhh, don’t ruin this,” Miles said, eyes closed and a smile on his face. “He’s giving me HIS PhD, saying that he doesn’t deserve it when someone as smart as me exists.”   
  
    “You need to get some sleep man, you’re not acting like yourself at all,” Peter sighed.  
  
    Miles agreed that he really did need to get some sleep soon since he’d been up for about two and a half days. Peter had been getting some sleep each night, but he understood how Miles was feeling at least to an extent. He’d been struggling to relax for a long time. Not only had he had his tests to worry about but there was also the threat of Wade’s date looming in the ever-decreasing distance.   
  
    In fact, he’d be shocked if he didn’t hear from Wade today.   
  
    Wade had been messaging Peter pretty much non-stop since he gave him his number. Sometimes they would just be normal ones, checking up on how he was doing with his studies, if he needed any help or a break. Peter turned his offers down each time, knowing if he did take him up on it, it would end up wasting more than just an hour.   
  
    A lot of the time, however, the messages would just be confusing and almost always related to their date. Peter would also miss messages, only to come back and see that Wade had had an entire conversation with himself about details of the date.   
  
‘do you like thai?’ 00:02am  
  
‘actually ignore that do you like chinese?’ 00:06am  
  
‘in fact where do you stand on asian cuisine in general?’ 00:14am  
  
‘second thoughts! italian?’ 00:26am   
  
‘okay don’t worry about any of that! i’ve figured something out <3’ 00:28am   
  
  
    Peter would just send him an emoji, usually of a thumbs up or the ‘OK’ symbol? Like, the hand that’s got the forefinger and thumb together and the three other fingers in the air? That one. Either way, he hadn’t really had a lot to say to the guy.   
  
    When he and Miles returned from their celebratory lunch, there was an envelope attached to the noticeboard on their door. It was addressed to Peter and he recognised the handwriting immediately.   
  
    “Oh wow,” Miles laughed. “Have fun with that. I’m going to nap forever.”   
  
    With that, the teenager flopped onto his bed, fully clothed, and settled down for a sleep. Peter couldn’t nap, hard as he tried. Something about daylight or his body not understanding that sleep can happen at any time of the day. Either way, he sighed and sat down on his own bed, opening the envelope and pulling out a handmade card.   
  
    It was covered in glitter and hearts and it was so ridiculous that Peter couldn’t help laughing a little bit. Inside, Wade had written:   
  
‘3pm, campus bookstore  
wear something you won’t mind getting dirty ;)  
oh and bring a bag with nice clothes in too  
and undies if you’re planning on staying the night!’  
  
    Peter rolled his eyes but placed the glittery monstrosity on his desk, right next to his beloved pen and his old laptop. That poor pile of junk really did need replacing, but there wasn’t enough money in the world for him to replace all the things he needed to update. His phone was a flip phone for fuck’s sake. In this day and age, people were using Stark phones, all holograms and touch screens and physics-bending capabilities.  
  
    In any case, he now had a date to prepare for. He also wasn’t sure what ‘nice’ meant. To him, it would be as simple as a shirt with jeans that didn’t have holes in them; to Wade, it could be a tuxedo. Yeah, that was definitely something he’d have to check. He got out his phone.   
  
‘What exactly do you mean by ‘nice clothes’? Am I going to have to rob an Abercrombie and Fitch or something?’ 13:02pm  
  
‘hey! did you have a good lunch? noooo don’t be silly! just wear something sexy ;)’ 13:02pm  
  
‘Lunch was fine. Okay, I’ll be sure to get out the hot pink booty shorts I definitely own then. See you at three, you’ve been useless.’ 13:04pm  
  
‘i’m joking petey-pie!! although now i’m SUPER curious about these shorts of yours…………………………’ 13:05pm  
  
‘That’s enough ellipses out of you. Seriously though, am I going to be needing, like, a special dinner jacket? Those are a thing aren’t they?’ 13:06pm  
  
‘they are a thing!! but not for tonight. just wear something smart-ish that you feel comfy in. no suits or ties necessary. of course if you did want to wear one i wouldn’t complain ;)’ 13:07pm  
  
‘Okay, got it. Thanks. See you later.’ 13:07pm  
  
‘xoxoxoxoxo see you soon baby boy!!! xoxoxoxo’ 13:08pm  
  
    Peter let out another sigh, the forth one in the last few minutes, but it was a fond one. As much as Wade had pissed him off before, after talking to him for a while, Peter realised that Wade is just…fun.   
  
    ‘Fun’ was not a word Peter was overly familiar with before coming to university. Even at university, he still didn’t indulge in much. ‘Fun’ for Peter would be getting an A+ on an assignment and watching a movie to celebrate. It wasn’t to say that that wasn’t fun, of course, but Wade was a different kind of fun. A more extroverted kind of fun. Nearly getting into trouble a few weeks before had been one hell of a rush that Peter wasn’t keen to experience again, but was glad he’d experienced it once. A little bit of teenage rebellion was probably warranted at his age, anyway. The most risky thing he’d ever done in his life was try to stay in the library after it closed once. He’d cried when they’d found him huddled in the science section with a bunch of candy bars and made him go back home.   
  
    So yeah. Wade’s brand of fun was interesting, and Peter figured he needed a little bit more of that in his life. He’d spent so long working so hard, maybe he deserved a break. Wade seemed like someone who could help him learn to relax.   
  
    A little while later, Peter stood outside the campus bookstore with a backpack slung over his shoulder, his ‘nice’ clothes folded neatly inside. For now, he was wearing a t-shirt that said ‘Never trust an atom! They make up everything!’ across the front and an old grey zip-up hoodie that had certainly seen better days. He wore these along with some old jeans with a rip in the knee and his trusty worn sneakers. He felt suitably ready for whatever Wade might have planned, but he was also a little nervous. What, exactly, could Wade have thought of that would mean they’d be getting dirty? Peter wasn’t sure he wanted to know.   
  
    Wade showed up similarly dressed, although instead of jeans he was wearing his grey sweats with black sneakers and a red hoodie that hid whatever he was wearing underneath it. He spotted Peter and waved enthusiastically.   
  
    “Hey! Sorry I’m late, I was just organising some last-minute things. You all ready to go?” he asked, grinning as he approached him.   
  
    “That’s okay. Yeah, I’m ready. So, are you going to tell me where we’re going now, or do I have to wait to find out still?”  
  
    “Hmmm, just because you asked, I’m not going to tell you!” Wade teased, turning around and gesturing for Peter to follow him. “Let’s go. My car’s around the corner.”   
  
    “You have a car?” Peter asked, although he probably shouldn’t be shocked. Wade went around wearing Hollister clothes and talked loudly about skiing holidays he’d been on. Of course he had a car.   
  
    “Yeah, she’s nothing to write home about, but she’s all mind,” he said, rounding the corner and revealing his…car?   
  
    Of all the cars in the world, Peter would never have pictured Wade Wilson in a bright yellow beetle, but here he was and he was seeing it with his own eyes. The car’s paint was peeling around the handles and there was a yellow sunflower (fake, Peter hoped), next to the steering wheel. Peter frowned and looked over at Wade who was grinning from ear to ear.   
  
    “Isn’t she beautiful? Only set me back about five hundred bucks too!” he said, laughing. “Anyway, you can put your bag in the trunk.”   
  
    With that, he popped the trunk and Peter just put his bag in without a word before climbing in the passenger seat. He’d been expecting a Lexus or something with a personalised licence plate but this just seemed, well, like a lemon, really. How could anyone with as much money as Wade seemingly had possibly be seen in a car like this?   
  
    “You okay there?” Wade asked, getting in the driver’s side. “You’re being awfully quiet there, Mr. Sassy pants.”   
  
    “What? Oh, yeah, I’m fine. I just never thought you’d have a car like this,” Peter admitted.   
  
    “Oh, you mean yellow? Yeah, wasn’t my first choice either. I like red, or maybe blue? Black is lovely on cars too. But I just saw Sunflower out in that car yard and I couldn’t not get her! Besides, she was all I could afford,” Wade said, laughing.   
  
    “Really? I would’ve thought someone like you could afford any car you wanted,” Peter said.   
  
    Wade started the engine and was about to pull out when he started laughing. It was loud and very close in the confined space of the car but nonetheless attractive. Not the laugh itself which was far too loud - the look on Wade’s face. He really had a wonderful smile.   
  
      
  
    “You really think I’m loaded don’t you?” he asked, mirth in his eyes.   
  
    “Well…aren’t you? I mean, you just…I thought you were? I swear someone told me you were?” Peter replied, obviously confused and embarrassed.   
  
    “I’m not poor or anything, but I’m not rich either,” Wade said, finally pulling out and heading off campus. “Yeah, I didn’t get any scholarships to be here but I did work my ass off to get the money.”   
  
    “Oh I - you just seemed to party a lot so I thought - I thought you were one of those rich boys that had mommy and daddy pay for everything,” Peter admitted, blushing.   
  
    “Ohhhh, so you’ve seen me partying have you? Hmm, well if you’ve seen me partying I guess you must’ve been partying too,” Wade teased.   
  
    “No! No, I don’t do stuff like that,” Peter said.   
  
    “Oh yeah? Then how do you know I’m a party animal?”   
  
    “I’ve heard you! You come back to people’s rooms in my building and you’re so loud it’s impossible not to recognise your voice even through the walls!”   
  
    Peter’s voice was beginning to rise now, the embarrassment and anger making his vocal chords tense.   
  
    “Alright, alright, I’m sorry,” Wade laughed. “I shouldn’t tease you! Yeah, I party a bit, but I also work hard.”   
  
    “But you never seem to be studying,” Peter said.   
  
    “I’ve got a good balance of work and play,” Wade said, winking.   
  
    “Where do you even find the time for that?” Peter asked.   
  
    “Well unlike some people, I make time for it. University work is important, yeah, but so is socialising and making friends. If you only do one or the other then you’re not gonna get very far are you? You’ll either be a billy-no-mates for the next four years of your life, or you’ll be a waster who fucked up and didn’t get a great degree. And you, Petey-Pie, seem pretty much firmly in the former camp there. Wouldn’t you agree?”   
  
    Peter went quiet, thinking about all of that. All work and no play does make Jack a dull boy, right? Wade did have a point. What he didn’t understand though was the pressure Peter felt to succeed. He had a lot of people to impress, and if he didn’t work his ass off then he could kiss all his dreams of getting to do his PhD here goodbye.   
  
    “It’s not as simple as that,” he said. “I’ve got to work harder so I can keep up my grades. I need to get as high as I can.”   
  
    “Yeah, and if you keep doing that you’re gonna burnout at some point. You’ve got to live a little, man! You’re always so tense and moody, would it kill you to smile once in a while?” Wade said, taking a sharp right that made Peter’s head bump against Wade’s shoulder.   
  
    “You did not just tell me to smile,” Peter growled.   
  
    “I’m not telling you to do anything, just advising it! You need to have a bit of fun, which is exactly what I’ve themed this date around.”   
  
    Just as he was about to ask just what exactly that meant, Wade took another turn and they arrived at their destination. The way Wade was grinning made Peter a little nervous, but the competitive side of him was already getting pumped up as well.   
  
    “Paintball,” Peter said, raising and eyebrow. “Now I genuinely didn’t expect that. I was thinking you were going to be taking me mud wrestling or to a wet t-shirt competition or something.”   
  
    Wade parked up in the pretty much empty car park and slammed his hands on the wheel before slapping one to his forehead.   
  
    “Fucking wet t-shirt competition! That should’ve been my go-to thought. Man I’m such an idiot!” he groaned, sliding the hand down his face. He was still grinning though.   
  
    “Oh well, maybe you’ll just see me shirtless later,” Peter said before getting out of the car.   
  
    He didn’t look back to see Wade’s expression, but he did chuckle when he heard the suspension springs on the car squeak a few times, speaking to his apparent excitement at that statement.   
  
    Despite their earlier chat about money, Wade insisted on paying. Apparently he had a job on the side of his studies as well whereas Peter was living off grant money and the little he managed to earn over the summer with his job taking photographs for his local newspaper. Peter did try to at least pay for himself but Wade really wasn’t having it.   
  
    “You didn’t know we were coming here, so you didn’t prepare your wallet. Mine, however, has been fully debriefed!” he argued weakly. Peter still let him pay but kind of felt like an asshole about it.   
  
  
    After the bill was settled, Peter and Wade were set up for some good old fashioned shooting-people-with-paint-pellets fun. They were given some lovely white jumpsuits that Peter was sure would look like Jackson Pollock paintings by the time they were done, masks, guns, and about five hundred paint pellets for said guns. When asked what they wanted to play and how they wanted to do teams, Peter was first to say:   
  
    “I want to play against him.”   
  
    Wade was smirking, his gun resting on his shoulder and hand on his hip looking every bit the cocky bastard Peter had imagined him to be.   
  
    “You think that’s wise, Petey-Pie? I’ll have you know I’m a paintball expert,” he said.   
  
    “I think I can handle it. Besides, we’re going to be on teams,” Peter replied.   
  
    There were seven other people there to play which meant that they had odd numbers in the teams. Wade said that Peter should have the extra person so he ended up with five members while Wade only had four. Wade called being the red team and they all got strips of red cloth to tie around their upper arms, which landed Peter with blue and they did the same.   
  
    They were instructed to move to opposite sides of the arena as the first game would be a simple ‘Capture the Flag’ kind of thing. It was stressed so many times that there should be no aggressive physical contact that Peter was beginning to wonder what had happened to make them feel the need to overdetermine it so much.   
  
    When the buzzer went off, Peter’s team went covert. They hid behind the obstacles, split up into two teams of two and one of one - Peter being the one. The groups of two went off to capture the other team’s flag while Peter stayed behind to guard theirs.   
  
    It was quiet for a while, just the distant sounds of gunfire and paint splattering all over the place. Peter was crouched behind a grate just behind the flag, the plan being to ambush anyone who was stupid enough to try and get his flag, thinking that no one was there. He got in that weird, excited-but-kinda-need-to-pee state that he tended to get in when he was hiding somewhere, but luckily that didn’t last for long. Someone was coming.   
  
    Peter couldn’t recognise who it was under the mask and the jumpsuit, but from the shape and build of the guy, he was sure it was Wade. He waited for him to come within a few feet of the flag before he jumped out and shot him, hitting him square in the chest (once, after shooting about ten times).   
  
    “Aha!” he shouted, pointing at him. “I got you!”   
  
    “Oh baby boy,” came a voice from behind him, “that was so cute.”   
  
    Peter felt a shock of pain in his back and turned around just as Wade lifted his mask, grinning at him and winking. Peter’s jaw dropped and he watched helplessly as Wade took the flag out of it’s holder and ran off into the arena again.   
  
    “Sorry bro,” the other guy said, shrugging. “It was his plan.”   
  
    “Oh I’ll bet it was,” Peter said.  
  
    If Wade was going to play dirty then so would Peter, he decided, already coming up with a plan for the next game.   
  
    … And yet again, Peter was splattered with paint and Wade was still clean. Peter’s plan to snipe Wade from a good position up in a tree was admirable, but his white jumpsuit covered in colourful blobs of paint wasn’t exactly the best camouflage and Wade laughed very loudly when he shot him.   
  
    Eventually, Peter managed to convince Wade’s teammates to join his team as well. So with eight people on his team and one on Wade’s, Peter finally managed to get Wade cornered.   
  
    “Alright, come out with your hands up and admit defeat,” he said, rounding the large wooden crate and expecting to see Wade crouched there. Instead there was no one. It couldn’t be right! Peter had seen him walk around here.   
  
    “Oh baby boy,” Wade said. Peter couldn’t tell where he was. “You really need some practice, huh?”   
  
    Wade emerged from inside a barrel to his right and how he managed to get in there without making a load of noise was completely lost on Peter. Still, he tried to raise his gun and shoot but his aim was poor and Wade’s was perfect and Wade got him square in the chest.   
  
    “No!” Peter cried, looking down at the blue patch on his jumpsuit.   
  
    Thankfully, it was all according to plan.   
  
    Although the team had aimed to get Wade cornered behind the crate, they were still close enough to come rushing out of the bushes, shooting at Wade until he was covered in colourful paint. Wade held up his arms, laughing as he climbed out the barrel and, finally, admitted defeat.   
  
    “So, that was fun right?” Wade said as they handed their masks and guns back. “Bet you didn’t even think about school once, huh?”   
  
    To Wade’s credit, he was right. Peter had only been thinking about how to get back at Wade for the last - what time was it? Oh shit - three hours.   
  
    “I guess,” Peter said, stripping out of the jumpsuit and throwing it in the big laundry bin. “Kind of hungry now though.”   
  
    “Ah, and that’s where The Date: Part Two comes in,” Wade said.   
  
    Wade got out of his own jumpsuit and placed it in the laundry bin as well before leading Peter back to his car.   
  
    “Get your clothes from the trunk and go change in the bathrooms here,” he said, opening up the door and taking his own change of clothes out as well but throwing them into the car, clearly planning on getting changed in there. “I’ll see you in a few.”   
  
    Peter nodded and grabbed his bag, making his way to the bathrooms to get changed. They were kind of dirty, caked in mud and paint, but he supposed that was probably permanent here and it wouldn’t do much use to try and clean them. Still, he had to stand on the toilet seat while getting changed just so his pants didn’t get dragged across the floor. He was glad that he’d taken dance classes as a kid for the sole reason that he was able to balance on this toilet seat without really having to think about it. Thank God for teenage hormones and the desperate need to see pretty girls in leotards.   
  
    He got dressed up in his fancy outfit - a pair of dark blue jeans, brown dress shoes along with a white shirt under a burgundy sweater - and headed back to Wade’s car. Wade rolled down the window and whistled at him.   
  
    “Hey cutie, wanna go for dinner with me?” he asked through the window, winking at him.   
  
    “No,” Peter said, opening the door and getting in. “But you can drive me to a restaurant and if I like it enough then maybe I’ll let you sit with me.”   
  
    “Sold,” Wade said, a big grin on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stay tuned for The Date: Part Two.   
> Yes, all of my chapters are going to be named something equally as boring. Just wait til we get to the angst. That chapter will probably be like  
> Chapter Seven: The Angst.

**Author's Note:**

> So there we have it. A set-up. We'll see if I even carry this on because I'm 90% sure I only wrote this bullshit because I'm having about ten life crises at once. But who knows, maybe this absolute wank will pass off as something decent and I can try and gain a bit of self worth.  
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
